David Burke (botanist)

David Burke (1854 – 11 April 1897) was one of the most widely travelled plant collectors, who was sent by James Veitch & Sons to collect plants in British Guiana, Burma and Colombia. In his later life, Burke became rather eccentric, preferring the privations of life away from his native England.

Burke was born in Kent and joined Veitch as a gardener at Chelsea, London. In 1880, after expressing a desire to travel, he was asked to accompany Charles Curtis on a trial trip to Borneo, where they were instructed by Harry Veitch to collect specimens of Nepenthes northiana; the search for the elusive pitcher plant was unsuccessful, but the pair discovered many other species, including many interesting stove (hot-house) plants, palms, and orchids. At the end of the trip, Burke returned to England with the collection of plants, including large consignments of slipper orchids, Paphiopedilum stonei and P. lowii, as well as many Vandas, Rhododendrons, and the beautiful Stove-foliage plant, Leea amabilis.

In 1881, Burke was sent to British Guiana, where he re-discovered the insectivorous plant Heliamphora nutans, which had not been seen since its discovery on Mount Roraima by the two brothers Robert and Richard Schomburgk in 1839, and successfully introduced it to England. Amongst orchids he introduced from British Guiana were the rare Zygopetalum burkei (named after him) and Phragmipedium lindleyanum; from that trip he also sent the stove-house plant Amasonia punicea.

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